Table Of Content

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 351 594 CE 062 496 TITLE The Art of Active Listening. INSTITUTION Mercer County Community Coll., Trenton, N.J. SPONS AGENCY Office of Vocational and Adult Education (ED), Washington, DC. National Workplace Literacy Program. PUB DATE 92 CONTRACT V198A10206 NOTE 24p.; For related documents, see CE 062 480-501. PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Instructional Materials (For Learner) (051) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adult Education; Adult Literacy; *Business Communication; Business Skills; Communication Skills; Daily Living Skills; *Empathy; Employment Potential; *Feedback; Job Skills; Listening; Listening Habits; *Listening Skills; Literacy Education; *Skill Development; Speech Communication IDENTIFIERS *Workplace Literacy ABSTRACT This document is one of a series of student workbooks developed for workplace skill development courses or workshops by Mercer County Community College (New Jersey) and its partners. Designed to help employees empathize with others' points of view, the course is intended to teach employees to listen effectively, ask the right questions, and give and receive constructive feedback. The materials include the following information sheets: handling problems and conflicts (rating sheet), benefits of effective listening, active listening, active listening worksheet, developing good listening habits, effective listening techniques, using effective listening techniques, ten commandments for good listening, handling questions, and feedback (introduction, questionnaire, principles, do's and don'ts, and action plan for giving and getting feedback). (KC) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** THE ART OF ACTIVE LISTENING U.S. DEPAIRMENT OF EDUCATION Ott< or EduCabonai Acworth and Improvement ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION ED C CENTER (ERIC) Thts document has been reproduced as received from the person or orgarulahon Orfpmatmg it C Mmor changes have been made to improve reproducton oushty Pornts of new or oChnfonS stated m iths (loco. men! do not necessarily represent dtt.dal OERI poSitsOn or policy Prepared Under a United States Department of Education National Workplace Literacy Program Grant to MERCE2 COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE Center for Training and Development N. 1200 Old Trenton Road \J\ Renton, NJ 08690 Elaine Sr, Weinberg Director, Workplace Skills Project BEST COPY AVAILAT1 2 LITERACY PROJECT OVERVIEW OF WORKPLACE Skills for Tomorrow, NOW The Workplace Literacy Project resulted from a Department of Education grant, plus in7kind_contributions from a partnership with General Motors Inland Fisher Guide Plant, Princeton Plasma Physics The project is an Laboratory, and St. Francis Medical Center. attempt to find solutions to the growing "skills gap" in industry More than 25 million Americans cannot read the front page today. In addition, workers whose average ages are of a newspaper. rising, must produce in a technological environment that may not This lack of knowledge makes have existed when they began working. it difficult to compete in a technologically changing workplace. an increasing number of immigrants have entered the Moreover, workforce with limited English communication skills. In response to this growing need, the Federal government provided a grant to Mercer County Community College and its partners to develop ways to The aim of enrich and expand employees' basic workplace knowledge. self-esteem the improve the also project was of the to participants. levels of Support for the project was solicited from all an advisory company management and the unions. In addition, council, comprising key management and employees from each company Each determined the design, goals, and time-frame of the project. company provided a liaison person from their site, and MCCC hired Employee release time a director to manage the program. for classes was site-specific. Information aboit Participation in the program, was voluntary. flyers, union classes was disseminated through company letters, notices, notices included with paychecks, and open forums with supervisors and employees. The ABLE test was used for normative pre and post testing. Other types of evaluations varied from course to course. MCCC counselors met with each student to discuss present and future educational objectives. Courses were offered in reading, business writing, math, In addition, there were science, and English as a Second Language. workshops in problem solving, stress management, and other work The curricula for the courses were customized for survival skills. each worksite to be as job focused as possible. It is our hope that this program will serve as a model for other organizations to empower their employees with the skills needed to succeed in the changing technological workplace, today and in the future. 3 THE ART OF ACTIVE LISTENING Carl Rogers, The concept of active listening comes from the work of (Boston: Houghton Mifflin a psychologist, in On Becoming a Person An Active listening is the ability to empathize. Co., 1961). person's attitude of empathy allows you to be aware of the other feelings from his or her point of view. Upon completion of this course, you should be able to: Listen effectively Ask the "right" questions Give and receive constructive feedback HAGAR THE HORRIBLE e 5 HANDLING PROBLEMS AND CONFLICTS LISTENER? ARE YOU A GOOD 2 1 3 4 5 Never Seldom Sometimes Usually Always thoughts and sentences. I allow the speaker to complete their own 1. person's point of view before I I make sure I've understood the other answer. I listen primarily for the facts. .3. composed and receptive. I appear to be calm, relaxed, subject is uninteresting. I listen even if the speaker or the 5. I feel is wrong. I don't interrupt even if I hear a statement 6. that are not important I selectively listen, filtering out those messages 7. situation. to me or the than letting my thoughts drift to I listen to the toteil message rather S. what I will say next. listening such as "yes" and "I see." I send verbal clues to indicate I'm 9. words. I am not aroused to anger by emotional 10. SOME BENEFITS OF EFFECTIVE LISTENING This is the opposite One definition of effective listening is "listening with understanding." require considerabie of passive hearing, in which we are just quiet. Effective listening (. tees should ask some quietness on our part to allow the other person to give us information, but we of what the other questions and give some feedback to make sure that we have a good grasp person is trying to tell us. with the speaker. Effective listening means that the listener actively shares responsibility important skill for being sure that they reach an understanding of one another. This is an which helps us do our jobs better. job of communi- The whole point of doing a good job of listening is to do a more effective cating. Some benefits of effective listening: better.- We can learn important information that will help us do our jobs information others We can develop opinions on ideas and situations based on the new . give us. of others and therefore make We can respond more accurately to the ideas and opinions a better contribution in conversations and meetings. solving. They influence our We can involve other people in cur planning and problem thinking and are given an opportunity to contribute. We can develop awareness of how others see things. things We can develop a basis for raising questions which we may need to ask about that are important to us. in the infor- We can pinpoint areas which we might need to explore by discovering gaps mation of others. We can be alerted to potential problems. 7 BEST COPY AVAILABLE ACTIVE LISTENING l C A complete active listening response has h_. ., parts. The first part reflects the emotion: "I can understand your concern..." The second part restates the situation "...that you were not notified about the change." Examples of the first part might be: I'm glad you're letting me know... I understand your concern... It is no wonder that you'd be concerned when... I can see why it's important... I'm sorry you've had trouble... It is difficult when... It can be annoying when... It certainly is a concern... It is frustrating when... ACTIVE LISTENING WORKSHEET For each of the following statements, write a response which acknowledges the emotion, then restates the situation. Why can't you locate her? I need approval on this voucher before I can get 1. reimbursed. I don't understand this memo from your office. What am I supposed to do 2. with this? There's a close deadline and I can't begin to cut through this confusion! Put Pete Marwick on the line. It's important that I speak to him. I can't keep 3. waiting for him to call me back. 9 right away. If you can't help me, give me your supervisor 4. I'm irritated that no one has been able to help me. My request is a simple ft-. basic requests? one. Why can't you people accommodate even Why is it taking your department so long to What's your problem there? 6. submit your paperwork? Everything is being held up!